The present invention pertains to devices for carrying a load, such as plastic bags, by hand, on a shoulder or on a forearm.
Plastic bags are commonly used for carrying food and other items purchased from stores and supermarkets. The plastic bags typically have loop handles that a person carries with his hands. When a plastic bag is filled, the loop handles tend to stretch and otherwise dispose themselves in a manner that concentrates the weight of the bag""s contents along narrow areas of a person""s hand. This can prove painful when the bag is carried for any extended period of time or distance. This problem is exacerbated when multiple bags are carried simultaneously.
It is known to use a hand-held device for carrying multiple bags. For the most part, the previous devices have comprised a central member with some type of hooks or grooved portions at the opposite ends of the central member. The central member is to be grasped by hand and the bag loop handles are to be supported by the hooks or grooved portions when the bags are carried.
It is useful to be able to use a device to not only carry bags by hand, but also on a forearm or on a shoulder. Positioning a device on a forearm or shoulder may be done for either a temporary period of time (e.g. to allow a person to free his hands to open a car door, to retrieve a set of keys from a pocket, to hold a child""s hand, etc.) or for a longer period of time, such as when multiple bags are carried over longer distances. Alternatively, when a person has numerous bags to carry, it is useful to carry some bags with a device positioned on a shoulder and/or a forearm and to carry other bags by hand with another device. This prevents the need for making multiple trips to carry the bags.
However, in order for a device to be used to carry bags on a shoulder or a forearm, the device must rest securely and comfortably. Previous devices which were not designed to ergonomically fit the shape of a person""s shoulder or forearm, such as those having flat bottom surfaces, would be uncomfortable for the user or would be unstable during use, causing the device to fall off the shoulder or forearm, possibly causing damage to the contents of the bags.
There have been some attempts to provide devices capable of carrying bags by hand or on a shoulder or forearm. U.S. Pat. No. 6,045,019 issued to Moses discloses a strap for carrying shopping bags that is made of a thin sheet that has opposed hook-like lateral openings on each end for receiving bag handles. The strap is longitudinally flexible and is capable of being slung over a person""s shoulder with bags on either side thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,266 issued to Giocanti discloses a grip for carrying bags with loop handles with ends shaped to form hooks for carrying the bags and that is capable of being carried by hand or on a shoulder or forearm.
However, a user cannot easily remove the devices of Moses and Giocanti from his shoulder or forearm since these devices have a xe2x80x9clowxe2x80x9d profile when slung over a shoulder or forearm and while supporting the weight of the bags. For example, a person would have to dig his fingers under the central portion of the Moses strap in order to lift it from his shoulder. This may prove awkward or may place unnecessary stress on a person""s fingers if the load carried by the device is heavy. The flexible Giocanti device suffers from the same disadvantage since it collapses under the weight of a load, providing no convenient location for a person to insert his fingers to lift the device from his shoulder.
It is also useful to be able to place the device down for a short period of time (e.g. for a person to open a door, to retrieve keys, etc.) when the bags are received by the hooks or grooves without worry that the loop handles will inadvertently become disengaged, necessitating the person having to re-place the loop handles within the hooks or grooves before picking the device up again. For this reason, devices that have a fixed space or gap between the hook and the central member may result in the undesired exit of the bag loop handles.
The present invention provides for an easy-to-use, lightweight device for comfortably and securely carrying a load, such as plastic bags, by hand, on a shoulder or on a forearm. The device is comfortable to use and is stable when in use.
In one aspect of the invention, there is provided a device for carrying a load by hand, on a shoulder or on a forearm, the load having at least one load handle, the device comprising: an elongated central portion comprising a support member having a concave downwardly facing surface and a handle spaced apart from and above the support member to define a non-collapseable opening dimensioned to receive a hand for carrying a load by hand; and a pair hooks attached at opposite longitudinal ends of the central portion for receiving at least one load handle, wherein each of the hooks comprises a free end portion in resilient contact with the central portion, wherein a load handle confinement area is defined between each hook and the central portion.
The support member may have a greater transverse width than the handle.
The device may be integrally constructed. The device may be constructed of a plastic material.
The handle may be a longitudinally extending bar disposed above the support member, the hooks may be upwardly oriented and the free end portions of the hooks may be in resilient contact with the central portion at locations on opposite ends of the handle. The bar may comprise an upwardly facing first surface and a downwardly facing second surface, wherein the transverse edges of the first surface and the second surface are rounded. The central portion may comprise radiused bend portions on opposite ends of the bar and the free end portions of the hooks may be in resilient contact with the central portion at or near the radiused bend portions. The central portion may comprise a pair of downwardly extending arms, each of the arms being attached at a first end to the radiused bend portion and attached at a second end to the support member.
The hooks may be symmetrical with one another and may be upwardly oriented. The hooks and the central portion may be coplanar.
Each of the hooks may comprise a bottom portion attached to the central portion adjacent the load handle confinement area, wherein each of the bottom portions of the hooks may have an upwardly facing surface for supporting at least one load handle in the load handle confinement area and the upwardly facing surface may have rounded transverse edges. Each of the hooks may comprise an intermediate portion between the free end portion and the bottom portion, the intermediate portions being spaced apart from the central portion. The bottom portions of the hooks may have greater transverse widths than the free end portions of the hooks.
The central portion may comprise a member disposed below the handle, the member having an upwardly facing surface having rounded transverse edges, the upwardly facing surface defining the bottom of the non-collapseable opening. This member may be the support member.
The transverse width of the device may be greater at its bottom than at its top so that the device has a generally triangular cross-sectional profile.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a device integrally constructed from a plastic material for carrying a load by hand, on a shoulder or on a forearm, the load having at least one load handle, the device comprising: an elongated central portion comprising: a longitudinally extending support member having a concave downwardly facing first surface and an upwardly facing first surface, the second surface of the support member having rounded transverse edges; and a longitudinally extending bar disposed above the support member, radiused bend portions on opposite longitudinal ends of the bar and a pair of downwardly extending arms, each of the arms being attached at a first end to the radiused bend portion and attached at a second end to the support member, the bar comprising an upwardly facing first surface and a downwardly facing second surface, wherein the transverse edges of the first and second surfaces of the bar are rounded, wherein a non-collapseable opening is defined between the bar and the support member dimensioned to receive a hand for carrying a load by hand, wherein the support member has a greater transverse width than the bar; and a pair of upwardly oriented hooks that are coplanar with the central portion, the hooks are attached at opposite longitudinal ends of the central portion for receiving at least one load handle, the hooks being symmetrical with one another, wherein each of the hooks comprises a free end portion in resilient contact with the central portion, a bottom portion attached to the central portion and an intermediate portion between the free end portion and the bottom portion and spaced apart from the central portion, wherein a load handle confinement area is defined between each of the hooks and the central portion, wherein each of the bottom portions of the hooks has an upwardly facing surface for supporting at least one load handle in the load handle confinement area, the upwardly facing surface of the bottom portion having rounded transverse edges.